Hi everyone. My name is Christina and I’m a “getting it right” addict. I’ve written far fewer newsletters this past year because the drafts didn’t feel good enough to share with you. I’ve been putting off the re-launch of my Walking With Your Divine Self website for almost a year. I’ve let a few (okay, a lot of) ideas sit on paper rather than execute on them. What I’ve got here is a failure to launch.
I wait and wait and wait to launch because…
- it’s not good enough, or
- it’s gotta look prettier first, or
- it’s gotta feel like the right time, or
- I haven’t found the right words, orno one’s gonna want to come to my event, or
- (insert other nonsensical belief here).
Can you relate? If so, try this: Do it anyway. Full stop, as the Brits say. Seriously. Just freakin’ do something. You’ve heard quotes like “perfect is the enemy of good.” And, since the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting different results…
I’ve been doing it anyway lately. And here’s the result: When you check out my (other) website, you’ll see that the logo that belongs in the box at the top isn’t quite centered. You’ll also notice that the “Walk” page feels kind of incomplete. And you’ll see that the formatting of the main blog page is off. And you’ll see that the home page feels like it’s got a bit too much white space. And you might feel like there are pictures missing. And some of the colors are a little funny. Or maybe you wouldn’t have noticed any of that if I hadn’t called it to your attention. (I’ll save the topic of apologizing for one’s work for another newsletter!)
I can tell myself a ton of stories about why I should wait. Or, I can launch and trust that something good will come of it all. Here’s what’s come of my less-than-perfect site launch so far:
- People have signed up for my event,
- web traffic reports tell me people are starting to find the site,
- I’ve learned a lot about widgets and have still more to learn,
- I know more about HTML than I gave myself credit for,
- people have been complimentary of what’s there so far, and
- lots of help from patient friends will continue to see me through the rest of the project.
Who’d’ve thunk it? Complimentary of less than perfect? What? Could it be that the person who’s hardest on me, is me? Yup.
If your inner critic is keeping you from the launch of something new, and maybe a little scary, take a few small and (im)perfect steps. Chances are you’ll be just fine. And you’ll learn a lot, no matter what happens.
